Overhead opening garage door



NOV. 19, 1935. s?, MADSEN 2,021,459

' A OVERHEAD OPENING GARAGE DooR A E Filed J u1y 2l. 1930` 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Npv. 19, 1935; s. MADsr-:N

OVERHEAD OPENING GARAGE DOOR Y Filed July 21, 193i) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2- Uni/Infor Nav, 19, 1935.

S. MADSEN OVERHEAD OPENING GARGE DOOR Filed July 2l, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 {7m/fahr 5er?? Madsen l @prays Oja@ Patented Nov. 19, 1935 PATENT OFFICE OVERHEAD OPENING GARAGE DOOR Sem Madsen, Clinton, Iowa, assigner, by mesne assignments, to George L. Curtis, Eugene J. Curtis, and Charles A. Armstrong, trustees, all

of Clinton, Iowa Application July 21, 1930, Serial No. 469,434

3 Claims.

An object of my invention is to provide a door for garages or the like and supporting means therefor whereby the door may be raised from a closed vertical position to an open horizontal position without the necessity of having to form the door in sections and hinge the sections together. I

Another object is to provide hardware for such a door of simple, durable and inexpensive construction.

A further object is to provide means for supporting a door so that it can be moved fromv closed to open position without providing any horizontal joints which prevent good varchitectural design and make an ugly instead of a beautiful door.

Still another object is to provide an overhead opening door which does not require a prohibitive amount oi.' head room and consequent high ceiling.

Another object is to provide a door and hardware therefor, the hardware being entirely supported from the side jambs of the door without the necessity of overhead supports, which add to installation expense.

Still a further object is to provide an arrangement for supporting a garage door so that in opening the door, the lower part is pushed outwardly and thus away from a car in the garage so as to eliminate the necessity of providing any space within the garage close to the floor for operation of the door from one position to another.

Another object is to support the door in open position under the ceiling of the garage and thus out of, the weather.

Still another object is to provide countery balancing springs for the door, thus obviating the pointed out in my4 claims, and illustrated in the' accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an inside elevation of a door and 4hardware therefor `embodying my invention, the

door being shown in closed position,

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the same.

Figure 3 is an enlarged ,sectional view taken on the line 3 3 of Figure 1 showing the' door closed.

Figure 4 is a similar sectional view on a reduced scale showing the door opened. 5

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 5-5 of Figure 1.

Figure 6 is an enlarged sectional viewon the linej-B oi?` Figure 4.

Figure 'I is an enlarged sectional view on the 10 line 1 1 of Figure 1.

Figure 8 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 8--8 of Figure 1 and Figure 9 is a sectional view on the line 9-9 of Figure 7 showing a side elevation of a portion 15 of the supporting hardware for the door.

On the'accompanying drawings, I have used the reference numerals I0 to indicate the side jambs of a door opening in a wall of a garage or the like. 'I'he head jamb of the door opening 20 is indicated at I4. The door itself is indicated by the reference numeral I6 and is built in one solid unit without any joints from top to bottom or from side to side as in most types of overhead opening doors.

The supporting hardware for the-door I 8 includes supporting angles I8, the projecting anges of which are to the sides of the angles farthest from the door opening. The supporting angles I 8 are adapted to besecured to the side jambs I0 30 by lag screws or the like 28 extending through slots 2| in the angles. A slot 2| is provided for each lag screw 2l).

Two of the supporting angles I8 are provided, one on each side jamb I8. Since' they and all 35 parts fastened to them are identical, I will describe but one of them. Secured to the supporting angle I8 by means of bolts 22 is a bracket casting 24. The bracket 24 has an upwardly and inwardly inclined arm 28 as best shown in Fig- 40 ure 9 to which'is connected an varched or curved roller supporting bar 28, preferably of angle con- I struction. Bolts 38 are utilized for securing the roller support 28 to the arm 26 of the bracket 24.

The innerend of the roller support 28 is sup- 45 ported byl a tie rod .32 connected with the roller support 28 at one end and with the upper end of the supporting angle I8 at its other end. y

A bracket 84 (see Figure '2) is provided on the roller support 28 for the tie rod to extend through. 50 The inner ends of the roller supports 28 are connected together by an angle bar 3B and suitable braces 38 which prevent undesired transverse movement of the inner ends of the arms 28.

Secured to the lower end of the angle I8 is a 65 pivot arm 40 braced by means of a bar 42. The pivot arm 40 and the bar 42 support a pivot bolt 44 on which is pivotally mounted a door arm 46. The lower end of each door arm 46 is connected with an arm 48 of an aligning shaft 50.

The aligning shaft 50 is pivotally connected with the lower part of the door I6 by means of bearing straps 52 and bearing blocks 54.` Set collars 56 prevent longitudinal movement of the aligning shait 50 with respect to the bearing straps 52.

Connected as by bolts l selectively cooperable with openings 59 to the upper end of the supporting angle I8 is a spring arm 58. A vertically arranged coil spring 60 has its upper end connected with the spring arrn 58 and its lower end hooked over a spool-like iitting 62 secured to the door arm 46 by means of a bolt 64 best shown in Figure 8. A plurality of openings 66 are provided in the door arm d6 so that the bolt 64 can be placed in any one of them for adjusting the tension of the spring 66, as desired.

A plurality of spaced rollers 68 are rotatably mounted on bolts 69 and sleeves 1I which are connected with they roller supports 28 as best shown in Figure 6. The door I6 is provided with channel or angle iron tracks which are secured to the inner surface of the door I6 by means of screws l2, asbest shown in Figure 7 for coaction with the rollers 68.

Practical operation The door i6 when closed stands in the vertical position shown in Figure 3 of the drawings with its inner surface in the same plane as the inner surfaces of the door lambs. Above the lowermost roller 68 a ilat bar stop T4 (see Figure 7) is secured to the door I6 by screws 'I6 and engages the jamb Ill. Below this roller a flat bar stop 18 is secured to the jamb I0 and engages the door I6 when in closed position. These stops insure correct alignment of the door with the door jamb and prevent the inltration of air.

When the operator is on the inside of the garage, he pushes outwardly on the lower part of the door I6, after releasing the lock bar 80 (see Figure l) by turning the lock handle 82. If he is on the outside of vthe garage, he pulls the lower part of the door outwardly. A handle can be provided on the lower part of the door for convenience in opening the same.

The door is immediately guided by the two door arms i6 and kept in exact parallelism by the aligning shaft 50 so that it will travel substantially in an arc of a circle outward and upward. The points on the guide tracks 'I2 which bear against the lowermost rollers 68 tend to fulcrum about the rollers asa center. Thus movement of the lower part of the door outwardly causes inward movement of the upper end of the door. y

To insure that the upper end Will be properly guided inwardly, I provide resilient guide lingers 84 secured to the brackets 24 by means of bolts 86 and held against pivoting on the bolts by lugs 88. Guide lugs 90 are mounted on the door I6 and extend behind the guide fingers 84 asbest shown in Figure '1. In Figure 3, it will be noted that the upper end of the guide nger 84 is inwardly curved so that the lug 50 sliding behind it will iorcevthe upper end of the door I6.to swing inwardly.

In addition to the rotating movement of the door about the lowermost rollers 66 as a fulcrum, the door will also roll upwardly on these rollers until the tracks 10 engage the next pair of rollvers, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 4. Further opening movement of the door will cause the tracks 10 to successively engage the other pairs of rollers until in the open position shown in full lines in Figure 4 the door is supported by the uppermost rollers and the door arms 46.

The door in thc open position is substantially horizontal and is substantially balanced on the uppermost rollers and consequently there is no tendency for its return to closed position.

In the closing oi the door, a strap-like handle 92 hanging down from the aligning shaft 58 may be grasped by the operator and pulled downwardly which will reverse the operation of the door with the two springs 60 at all times ex.

erting an upward balancing force so that the door operates easily. In the full open position, the springs prevent the door from starting down of its own accord since the door is substantially counterbalanced by the coaction of tracks and rollers-(see Figure 4) and but slight spring pressure is required to retain it in such position.'

Once started down, however, it moves slowly and will come to rest in a partly opened position (as shown in dotted lines), such position being determined by the adjustment of the springs 60. Beyond this neutral or balanced position the .ve'ght of the door, acting through the lever like arms 46, overcomes the tension of the springs ASIJ, which closes the door and holds it shut.

It will be noted that when the door is in a closed vertical position, the tension of the springs is greatest because they are stretched most but because of the angle of the arms 46 relative to the springs f see Figure 3) the door may be easily started from closed position. In the opening movement of the door, the sprngs are contracted and the door shifts from vertical to inclined and then to horizontal position, which gradually decreases its effective weight on the door arms 46 and consequently the springs 66.

This feature is advantageous as at all positions of the door, it causes an approximate balance between the springs and the door.

It will be noted that the parts are so arranged that it is necessary to attach only the support- 'ing angles I8 to the garage and the bearing straps 52 to the garage door. This simplifies installation expense and eliminates the necessity for having overhead supports. The springs 60 are arranged vertically close to the door opening instead of extended horizontally overhead as in most types of door hardware. This reduces the danger of breaking springs to a rninimum as a broken spring overhead will fall downwardly and may therebyy cause an accident.

I have provided a means for adjusting the door I6 vertically relative to the door frame and such means is best disclosed in Figure 9 of the drawings. On each of the bracket castings 24 which are secured to the angles I8, a4 U-shaped ear 98 is provided. On the lag screws 20 above each ear Y98 angle-shaped brackets 94 are provided. A bolt 96 extends through the bracket 94 andthe U-shaped ear 98 and is provided below the ear with a nut |00. Thus it will be seen that loosening of the lag screws 20 (four in each angle I8) and then tightening of vthe nut |00 will raise the entire supporting angle I8, and the door hardware carriedthereby, the slots 2| through which the lag screws 26 extend pennitting of such vertical adjusting movement of the angles I8 while loosening of the nut will allow lowering o1' the angle and its hardware. Therejustable,

after the lag screws 20 can be retightened to positivelylretain the angle in the position to which it has been adjusted. Since the members .40 and 42 are carried by the angle I8 and the pivots 44 are carried by the members 40 and 42, the 'entire door I6, which is connected by the arms' 46 with the pivots 44, is thus vertically ad- After such adjustment is made, the lag'screws Tmay be tightened for retaining the angles in their adjusted position. This construction a1- lows individual adjustment of each angle i8 so 'as to align the lower edge of the door I8 with the floor. and the lower edge may be positioned just as close to the floor as desired.

It will be noted -that the pivot bolts 44 are located a substantial distance inward from the door jambs. This provides room to attach the counterbalancingy spring to the arm and also produces a quicker upward movement of the lower end of the door. It is a decided advantage to have the door moved with an upward component movement after it starts to open outwardly inasmuch as it thus clears the sill at thebottom of the door and also clears drifted snow for instance much more quickly than when the arm 48 is pivoted close to the door jamb. Referring to Figure 3 it will be particularly noted that in the closed position of the door, the arm is at an angle instead of being practically vertical as when 'the pivot bolt 44 is located close to the Jamb. The bars 40 and 42 space the pivot 44 inwardly to accomplish this result.

Some changes may be madein the construction and arrangement of the parts of my device without departing from the real spirit and pur- 'pose of my invention, and it is my intention to tical slots and fastening ,means through saidslots and' intosaid side jambs and vertical bolt connections between said side jambs and said supporting members whereby said supporting members may be individually adjusted relative to the side jambs to which they are secured for thereby adjusting the door rela-tive to said door frame. 4

2. In a structure of the kind described, a door frame, a door adapted to be in vertical position adjacent the .door frame when closed and to be in horizontal raised position when opened, track and roller means for supporting and guid- 10 ing the upper part of the door during its movement to and from its respective positions, a pair of arms for guiding the lower part of the door during such movement, each of said arms being pivoted at one end to the door near its lower l5 part and being fulcrumed to the door frame. and intermediate the top and bottom thereof, springs, each having one end secured near the upper end of the door frame and the other end secured to one of said arms intermediate its 20 I vin the movement of the door from closed to full open position the arms travel through an arc substantially less than 180, whereby the springs always act substantially removed from dead centers at all points of travel and whereby the door 30 is always balanced by the springs, thus eliminating slamming at both top and bottom.

3. In a structure of the kind described, a door frame, a door adapted to be invertical position adjacent the door framev when closed and to 85 be in horizontal raised position when opened, track and roller means for supporting and gulding the upper part of the door during its movement to and from its respective positions, a pair of arms for guiding the lower part of the door 40 during such movement, each oi' said arms being plvoted only at one end to the door near its lower part and being fulcrumed only at its other end at a point spaced substantially inwardly from the door frame and intermediate the top and bottom thereof and springs, each being under constant tension in all positions of the door having one end secured near the upper end of the door frame and the other end secured to one of f said arms intermediate its ends. 50

BERN MADBEN. 

